Tag Archives: The Beatles

It’s long past midnight in Warsaw. There is a new couple that has moved into the apartment across the street.

For the last two days, it has been sitting empty, with the curtains open and the stark white mattress in the middle of the living-room. On the first of the new year (today), they have appeared: He’s tall, with pepper and salt hair; she’s lovely. And even though I cannot see the details of her face underneath her bangs, I can imagine the high cheekbones and the doll-like roundness that I’ve been seeing in the store window reflections of the last twenty years.

I watch them from my kitchen, while drinking coffee. I am jet-lagged.

The curtains remain open and the yellow light of a single lamp is getting some assistance from the screen of their TV. They’re eating dinner that consists of corn on the cob and one bucket of KFC (so very Eastern European, as I have come to learn). Occasionally, they half turn their faces to each other:

“You want some tea?”

Or,

“For what time, you think, we should set the alarm clock, in the morning?”

I leave them be and wander from one room to another to check on our drying laundry. The guidebook never promised us domestic amenities, so the discovery of a washing machine in our kitchen came as a complete surprise. The dryer button is jammed on it though, but considering I have arrived here with my arrested expectations from post-Soviet Russia, circa 1997, I am extremely grateful for the dignified living standards with which this city has accommodated us.

Besides, the absence of a dryer — I find romantic. I run my hands along the cloths from my and my lover’s body, earlier drenched from running through this cold city, and wonder what it would’ve been like if I were to enter my womanhood in my birth place. Would I have known the grace of unconditional love and the finally non-tumultuous forcefulness of me? Would I’ve grown up kind, or would the much harder life of my homeland have taken a toll on my character and aged me, prematurely? And would I have the privilege of choices that make up my identity now, still generous and grateful for the opportunities I’ve found abroad?

Identity. In my impression of the world, this word comes from the American ventricle of me. But after this week’s reunion with my father, who never had the privilege to watch me make the choices that led me to the woman that I am, I am surprised to find myself resemble him so much. Despite the separation of nearly two decades: I am my father’s daughter. Of course, by some self-written rules, it’s presupposed that I have traveled further in my life than father ever did in his. I’ve been exposed to more world, and in return, it taught me to question twice all prejudices and violations of freedom. But what a joy it’s been to find that, in my father’s eyes, life is only about truth and grace and justice; and matters of identity, for him, have no affect on any person’s freedoms.

I wander back into the kitchen, sit down into my father’s chair. Thus far, it’s been the greatest pleasure of my life to watch him eat good food that I have made. While eating, dad is curious and — here’s that word again — grateful:

“What’s that ingredient?”

And,

“What do you call this bread?”

And I can see him now: slouching just a little above his meal, in this chair; shaking his head at the meal that he finds to be gourmet, while to us — it is our daily bread. I have to look away when with childlike amusement he walks his lips along a string of melted cheese:

Here is to more such meals, my most dear love, and to the moments that define a life! that must define MY life!

The couple in the window across the street has finished their meal. The table is still cluttered with settings, crumbled paper napkins and a red bucket whose iconography — although recognizable — is somehow different from the red-and-white signs that pollute the American skyline. The couple is now on the couch: She’s sitting up and removing pillows from behind her back, then tossing them onto the wooden floor. He is fetching two smaller ones, in white pillow cases, from the bed. Together, they recline again and progressively tangle up into each other, like lovers who have passed the times of dire passion and landed in that even-tempered place of loving partnership.

The light of the TV is now the only one illuminating their spartan room. From where I stand, now drinking a cup of black tea (still, jet lagged), I only see the back of his head and her hand that has ended up near his right shoulder. Occasionally, he half turns his face toward her, then turns toward the flickering blue light again:

“Are you comfortable, my love?”

Or,

“Would you rather watch the news?”

I walk into my bedroom to fetch my computer. The yellow light follows me from the kitchen and slowly dissipates as I approach the next doorway. It, ever so lightly, hits the exposed leg of my sleeping lover. I think I study him, but instead the mind gives room to memories of similar moments and visions. And in that suspended history of us, I reach into the drawer.

Sorting it out. Bit by bit. A crumb after a crumb. An echo of facts — here. A token of shared memories — there.

Sorting it out, for a sliver of some truth…

But that’s where it gets tricky: My truth — does not equal their truth.

With my family, I’ve taken the easier way out, according to them. For whom exactly have I made it easy, though? I’ve made it easier on them, NOT on myself. My truth — were it revealed — would break their little hearts:

“We didn’t know. We’re sorry. What a waste!”

Ideally, my truth would actually deserve their compassion. For, in my truth, survival has been difficult, yes (and it is such, most of the time); but in the choices that it took to do it — my survival has been tragic.

When one starts from the bottom and walks the tight rope of having no such option as to fail, the choices suddenly become quite brutal. They are self-serving most of the time. They are uncivil and mostly driven by fear. Because to fall down, in such a case, means having no place to land; no home to crawl back to, where by the means of heritage or hopefully some unconditional love one could be healed, recovered, reinvigorated. One could begin again, and try again, if only one could have a home. But having walked away from family — means having no choice and no space in which I could afford mistakes.

The mistakes that I have made, since orphaning myself — by choice — have taken years to actually forgive. In most cases, that forgiveness demanded more walking away: from the living witnesses; from those who have promised to step in, in place of missing family, and then gave up. And from my own wrongdoing self. And it is my truth that I hold no grudge; but in those case (of mistakes), forgiveness has demanded silence. Because, as I have learned by walking away from my own family: Their truth — will never equal mine. So, I prefer to walk away, in silence — yes.

The way one justifies survival is not up to me to judge. In their truths — in anyone’s truth — survival is difficult, yes. (And it is such, most of the time.) When it turns out to be tragic — it asks for myths: Justifications for one’s actions. And so we choose to make up our own truths, not necessarily lies, but truths — the way we see them: Truths by which we choose to stand, in order to avoid self-judgement. Are they delusions? Maybe. But when survival’s tragic — they may be the only way to go, without losing one’s mind to sorrow.

A decade of delusions in my family is ending with a crunch time. We have been separated for long enough to acquire myths about each other. And after all these years, I am the one to make a choice — to go back, so that we could finally compare our truths.

Their truths — will never equal mine. I know that. But neither do I any longer want that. I simply want to hear their side of it, and give them mine; so that we can put it all to rest.

What made me do it? It had to be my mother’s face that I began to see in the reflection of my own. A lifetime of walking away — from truths — has compressed that woman’s forehead into an accordion of guilt. And silences — from all the abandoned witnesses and failed stand-ins for her loves — are floating above her head, like storm clouds waiting to release their electrical wraths.

One day, that storm may break out. Who could possibly survive its horror? The flood of all the choked tears and the thunder of the silenced truths would then create a havoc. Her truths — would break the oblivious hearts of those from whom she’s walked away. And that’s the heritage I do not wish to carry, any longer.

I’m going back then. I am reversing the pattern of the family — and going back. I know better than the delusions of my mother: That their truths — will equal mine. They won’t.

But their truths may give me answers to the eventual questions of my firstborn, who has been murmuring into my dreams since I have managed to find a love that stays. This time, I haven’t walked away. This time, I have allowed for the flexibility of truths. This time — I HAVE FORGIVEN.

So, I’m going back then: to sort it out, bit by bit. A crumb after a crumb. A sliver of some truth, so that we could all move on.

Those Friday afternoons. The kids got their weekends extended! Until that year in junior high, we had to report our sleep-deprived little asses to school — six bloody days a week! But then, things changed.

It took the Soviets a few years to catch up with the educational structure most of the world had been practicing; but one year, it did happen: The change finally reached the school of our lil’ town — a place so small and forgettable, it was rarely found on the USSR’s map.

The town’s only fame happened in Napoleonic Wars during some battle that the Russians had won. But even back then, neither its name nor the land belonged to Motha Russia. The Russian troops sort of ended up there while chasing the short man and his troops off our land: Fuck you, you little Alpha-Wannabe! We would rather strike a match to all of our cities ourselves — than let you prosper off of our emaciated backs! And then, we’ll chase your limping ass off our charred land like an army of underfed dogs terrorized by their owner.

The territorial piss that would result in this region’s inheritance would happen over a century later, after another little man’s dreams of world dominance. Again, we would chase him off our land, through our brutal winters and wild terrain; then, claim this patch as well: Finders keepers, Motha Fucka!

But that’s a whole other story.

I can’t even remember how it all happened. I was due to start the third grade, and somehow, over the course of the summer, it became known that we would all be skipping a grade. Was it a town-wide memo that got sent out through the channels of our bureaucratic post-office that spied on every citizen due to the orders from above (or simply due to our habitual nosiness)? The matters of privacy belonged to other cultures whose people were spoilt by individualistic values. But that wasn’t us, man! We were all in this together, till death — or a life-long sentence at a labor camp — do us part. No need for privacy here! Everything was up for an investigation or gossip, depending on how big of a fish you were. And we all sorta just lived with it.

By the time I and my former classmates reported back to school a week before the 1st of September, we knew we were suddenly fourth-graders (and that was somehow automatically cooler). After the sudden abolishment of itchy uniforms, in our best civilian clothes, we sat in our classroom, whose swamp-green walls were still wet with paint. (FYI: As Russians, we leave everything for the last minute. So, despite the 3-month-long summer break, the school would be renovated a mere week before the return of its students.) Every child looked tanner. The boys suddenly came back sounding like men — and not a choir of eunuchs. And besides me and another runt-of-the-litter looking redhead, over the course of the summer, every girl seemed to acquire a pair of breasts. That day, my girlfriends began repeating the gesture of every Soviet woman: The slip of the hand under the shirt and the adjustment of the bra straps, all committed with the speed of lightening.

What the fuck, I thought. I was still as flat as the granite wall of Lenin’s Mausoleum. It’s those bloody ballet classes that motha insisted I took! How was I supposed to acquire the curvatures that strained the boys’ necks — while having zero body fat? Spasibo, motha: Great idea! That’s one way to preserve my virginity!

Like a brood of hens, the girls were chirpy that day. Together, they flocked and shot the boys their suddenly feminine stares that reminded me of my motha. How and where did they learn how to do that? Some Polish Charm School for the Children of the Soviets? There were new hairstyles that day — bangs and wispy curls constructed with their mothers’ curling irons — and brand new school supplies that still smelled of the Chinese manufacturing plants of plastic. That day, Alyoshka — my unknowing future husband — showed up looking like that actor from the Soviet remake of the Three Musketeers; but like before, he paid me no attention. How could he? I had no lady gifts to offer him. Just my ballet hair bun and the assigned list of summer reading that I had diligently completed.

In a minute, the grouchy librarian, who hadn’t gotten laid since 1935, would come down and get us. Following her lead, we would climb up the stairs to the school’s attic. (“DO NOT TOUCH!” the wet railing read, but a few of us still managed to mar the brand new clothes we came to show off that day.) At first, we would be given every recycled textbook but the one for Russian history. That Motha Fucka had to be rewritten, you see. So, after skipping a grade, we would be forced to study the Age of Antiquity — for another year — while the Soviet scholars pulled all-nighters in Moscow’s Central Library and dug out the convoluted truths for the next year’s course. By the fifth grade, as a result, we’d get a bloody booklet: That’s as good as they could do, after a century of omissions and fabricated facts.

But despite all the changes — no bloody uniforms and no history books — the biggest news was the change of the work week: from six to five days. I imagined it was Uncle Gorbachev that issued the change with a mere skate-like-slide of his pen over the report from the Ministry of Education. I knew I liked that guy from the start!

Our parents, however, were not as thrilled: This would be the first of many changes that would aim at their wallets from then on (new clothes, new books and private school tuition for their children being one of the million). And that would really stick in their craw, man! Not cool, Gorby! Not cool at all!

“There are no events but thoughts and the heart’s hard turning, the heart’s slow learning where to love and whom. The rest is merely gossip, and the tales for other times.” —

Annie Dillard, Holy the Firm

He was young — oh, so young! — but not convoluted at all, which is a rarity in itself. He sat with his body turned toward me at a 45-degree angle, playing with the ice cubes on the bottom of his tall glass; but never letting go of me, with his eyes.

“What are you drinking?” he started up. I could feel it with my skin cells: The kid was NOT into chatter much. He actually wanted to know.

“Um,” I chuckled and looked at my ice-less glass. “Tomato juice.”

And I nodded. I am not a barfly, mostly for that very same reason: I don’t drink. So, I nodded while bracing myself for the irony some tipsy idiot was about to point out.

The kid picked-up my glass and he sniffed it.

That scene! It reminded me of that scene, in a quirky film about doomed love: She asks him for a piece of chicken, and without his answer, takes it. Just like that! She reaches over and takes a chicken leg from his paper plate; and he is immediately disarmed at her lack of pretense and the intimacy at which he’d had to do no work, whatsoever.

The kid put down my glass, exactly into the water ring it had marked on my bev nap earlier. Then, he nodded and pouted with his lower lip:

“That’s cool!” he said, without showing me his version of a deprecating smirk.

My self-defense was unnecessary, here; and all the jokes at my own expense popped, like soap bubbles on a child’s palm.

I had been approached by men at bars before (and I had been approached by women, as well). Most of the time, with their courage slightly loosened by liquor, they negotiate their desire immediately. But they’re never drunk enough to say it bluntly:

“I want your sex,” for instance.

Or:

“I just want to fuck around, for bit. Is that okay?”

Instead, they loom, while flirting clumsily and waiting for me to bite the bait. It’s amusing, most of the time, to observe the habit of other people to get in their own way. (It’s also the reason I don’t drink: I like to watch, instead. That; and the fact that my sober tendencies of getting in MY own way — are already quite sufficient; and I needn’t be drunk to get a clearer look at myself.)

Soon enough though, the men get distracted: Their drunken charm refuses to work on me. What they don’t realize is that their honesty might’ve gotten them a lot more.

Eventually, they move on though — to someone easier, I suppose. But while they loom, my drunken courtiers sneak peaks at other barflies — and butterflies — with whom their charm wouldn’t happen in vain. They’re always pretty, those other girls, and more willing, perhaps. So, I let the men move on quickly:

“Go loom elsewhere, honey. It’s okay. Really.”

But this kid: He was different. He would study the other women openly, and sometimes, at my own direction.

“SHE — is gorgeous!” I’d mutter into my thin straw; and so, he would look, in silence.

What was he looking at, I would wonder? Was it the silky shimmer of her brown shoulders? Was it the beauty mark revealed by a backless dress? The curvature of her rear? The endlessness of her naked legs leading up to heaven?

What was it like to be so young — and to want so much?

So, he would look at the other women, but then return to me — always. He was one of those: The type that tended to hit things right on the nose. He would ask me questions that would make me shift in my seat; and under his examination, I, too, began studying the girl in a wraparound dress with no underwear lines, anywhere along her body. I was studying — me.

I surprised myself when I asked him about his mother. I could feel her, distances away, praying that her son was under the care of only good people. Only good women. She would have a confident face, I imagined, just like her son’s: With no ticks to betray her habit of getting in her own way. I couldn’t possibly know the extent of her courage yet; what it was like to let her child leave her watch. But I was pretty sure that if I were a mother, I too would hope — and I too would pray! — for the goodness of other people. Of other good women.

He spoke of her willingly. It was unlikely for a young man to be aware of the sacrifice a mother must make. But this kid — this young man — understood the courage of a woman’s heart: The courage it took — to be a good one!

“I’m not sure what it is…” he would say to me later. “I’m not sure what it is — about you.”

His hands would be steady: They knew the common crevices along a woman’s body; but he had yet to learn the specificity of mine.

“It’s just sex,” I’d tell him, “and that’s okay. Really.” And I would cradle his head, brush his hair and soothe his eyelids.

He was under a care of one good woman. And the good woman, waiting, praying for him from distances away, had absolutely nothing to worry about, that night.

I don’t know. How does anybody ever manage to remember the color of these walls?

One of the walls appears missing entirely: Instead it is taken up by a giant window, with a hideous air-conditioning unit directly underneath it. They don’t build windows like that on the East Coast. Everything must be larger in the West: More land, wider roads; bigger closets and endless windows — windows from which we gaze upon the same vast land and highways that carry us along the coast, to and away from love, in a never-ending act of our indecisiveness about solitude.

In Vermont, there are houses with porches and hammocks; and in those houses, the window are unhinged, then flung open, into the idillic streets, best colored during Indian Summer. In Maine, the window panes collect moisture, balancing out the difference between the temperatures with precipitation and moss. In New York, one can always find a jammed window, or a broken one; and often, there is some lever one must work, in order to let in some fresh air.

I’m staring out of the giant hole in the wall, with sliding glass, into the desolate desert landscape with gray domes of industrial buildings and rare traffic. I can see the packed parking lot of the hospital on the ground floor, and judging by the way people leap out of their cars, once they find a spot, I can tell the status of their beloved’s health. The worst cases pull up directly to the curb. Others choose to ride in an ambulance.

I see the disheveled head of a woman clutching a baby blanket being helped out of the red swinging doors. She is being lifted by two men in uniforms; and once on the ground, one of them must remind her how to walk.

I look away: Dear God! I think I’m starting to run out of prayers.

On the horizon — gray mountains. They are always gray, on this side, and only in the deepest winter do their peaks adopt a different shade: of stark-white snow. I think of the East, again. The mountains aren’t mountains out there: They’re hills.

Everything must be larger, in the West. And I’m one of those travelers, speeding along its wider roads, in a never-ending act of my indecisiveness about solitude: chasing, then running away from love — then, coming back for more.

The beep-beep-beep of the life-support machine brings me back into the room. I am alone here. Well, no: She is here too. But I’m not sure if her Here is in the same vicinity as mine. The doctors have managed to bring her back from wherever that is a broken heart takes its victims: They have struggled to bring her back Here, through a series of shots and shocks and tricks of the trade.

So, now she is back Here; but I know her Here — is nowhere near. It’s a different space entirely — a different Here where I, despite my conflicts with love, do not yet wish to be.

The doctors have spoken of Hope.

“Here is still some,” they say; and because they don’t avert their eyes, I wonder how many times they’ve had to say this — just today.

And how are they going to say it again to the disheveled mother who’s forgotten how to walk?

I come up to her bed. Her skin is ashen. I’ve never seen this color on the living before: It’s yellowish-blue, sickly and wax-like. It juxtaposes against all other shades with defeated sadness. So, the fuchsia pink of her pedicured toenails peaking out from under the sheet loses all vividness. The acrylic nails on her fingers, of the same shade, now have an appearance of props.

I remember she used to snap them against each other, when laughing herself to tears while telling a joke. She was good at jokes. And in my memory, that hollow sound of snapping nails has come to mean her good moods.

The beep-beep-beep of the life-support machine brings me back into the room: Again! It reminds me of the rhythm her broken heart is forced to take on, in order to stay Here. Is this — the sound of Hope? This slow, mathematically precise beat of an intelligent machine that, despite its act of mercy, does not possess the sensitivity to understand?

Her body has left this Here: The Here of the Living! She doesn’t want to be Here, anymore! And it is a terrible thought; and I cannot bring myself to say it out loud, in front the drooping face of her mourning husband.

I stand by her bed and study her face. It’s not peaceful, as my useless novels have promised. She looks perplexed, and I find myself fixated on the faded outline of her lipstick. I want to wipe it off for her: She would have wanted dignity, while — and if — she is still Here. She is a woman with no heartbeat but perfectly manicured nails. I think of paging the nurse.

The tubes, running to and from her wrists, fascinate me with their width. I follow them with their eyes, up to the beep-beep-beep of the life-support machine. I study the monitor.

What was I looking for?

I return to her face, looking for answers. A tiny tear, that has formed at an outer corner of her right eye, begins crawling across her temple.

She always comes in here, right around this time (which probably says a lot about her, and the same — about me).

And when she appears — she is impossible not to notice.

You can tell a lot by the way a person enters through the door. Some come in with certainty, as if they own the joint. Some have indeed been here before: They call out to the sleepy cashiers or the slightly baffled manager, and the rest of us are meant to take notice of the commotion they’ve created. Others slip in quietly: They tread their ground with no presumption; and I would like to think they spend their days causing the least amount of damage, in the world.

Local young couples come in here, to play out yet another day in the perseverance of their love. It’s them against the harsh world — together. Them — against us! And I don’t blame them: Togetherness — is hard enough. So, I watch them seeking refuge in each other’s company, because they still haven’t lost their love’s ability to hear — to receive each other — completely. They still haven’t taken the privilege of their intimacy for granted. Lucky kids!

Other times, this is the place for friends: buds and girlfriends, best friends. And they vent to each other about the little injustices in their relationships and lives; and expect alliances from the people at the other end of the table.

But she always comes in here alone, right around the same time. It is her voice that I hear first: It sounds like baby-talk that comes from a child who’s having a hard time growing up. I’ve often heard that voice from children with newly born siblings. They aren’t ready to share their parents’ love yet, and they still cannot comprehend where their self-importance has gone. So, they regress, even if only in their voices. And that’s exactly how she sounds.

Her clothes are simple, most likely begotten from a thrift store: A pair of loose jeans of no particular label and a long-sleeved crew neck sweater of pastel color. She wears thick, beige socks around her perpetually swollen ankles and a pair of nursing shoes. It’s not that she appears poor, just not well-off. And for that, the rest of the joint finds her at fault.

Or maybe, it’s her face: Something is not right with it. Her brown skin is deeply lined, although there is an overall puffiness on her cheekbones, forehead and neck; and under her eyes. The distance between her ears and chin has collapsed due to her absent teeth; so, she protrudes the lower jaw and smacks her lips a lot. The eyes are bulging and big, striking in the lightness of their hazel color. They make you lower your own gaze when confronted with hers. They are fully present, no matter how far and how long her mind appears to have been gone, by now.

“Can I sit here?” she’ll say, in that baby voice, asking for a group of girlfriends to move their purses from the chairs at the table she prefers.

That table is the worst! It’s right by the door, in the outer row, with the draft hitting her from both the outside and the overhead vents. When sitting there, there is no way she wouldn’t get in the way of people, coming over for their refills of coffee and water; and I’ve seen a few act discombobulated by her positioning. But she is sitting right by the door, as if already apologizing for not fitting in here. And before we notice — she will be gone.

The girls always act rushed when they move their bags, and they get uncomfortably silent once she finally sits down.

“Can I have some ice for my drink?” she’ll ask the Mexican fry cook, from behind the glass counter.

It’ll take a few tries to notice her: She is tiny, plus, she’s got that baby voice on her. And sometimes, if the kid at the fry station is new, he cannot understand her while he studies her face with embarrassment.

And I suspect it is her face: We all get stuck on it a little. Something is not right — with her face.

She’ll then sit down quietly and eat her meal so methodically she betrays her lack of family and money. Only the people that have known poverty eat like that. And I wish to apologize to her — for all of that pain and injustice; and for the shunned reactions of others. They think if something isn’t right with her face — something must be not right with her.

But her only fault, really — is the lack of beauty. She is not exotic, as retired youth has a chance to become. Neither is she dignified from the excess of money to take care of herself. She is simple, plain and just a little strange.

She comes and leaves alone; and while completely alone, she starts and finishes her meal.

One of these days, I shall strike up a conversation with her (but only if she’s willing to let go of her loneliness), and we’ll share a meal. And we may even share a silence.

Because she always comes in here, right around this time, alone; which probably says a lot about her, and the same — about me.

Yes, it’s a hard way of being: Living as an artist. But then, again, I wouldn’t want to be living — in any other way.

And I’ve tried. In all honesty, I’ve tried to be many things: Anything else but an artist. An administrator, a teaching assistant, and a secretary. A proofreader, an academic, a critic. A manager. An accountant. A librarian.

They had known me for years, and for years — they had seen me working. They had watched me giving a very fair try to living for the sake of a different profession. A “normal” profession. A job. And they had witnessed me change my mind.

Back then, I wasn’t really sure which profession it would turn out to be, so I would try everything. And instead of entertaining things, I would satisfy my curiosity by leaping into every opportunity. Because I always felt I could be so many things; but I wanted to make sure that I couldn’t be anything else — but an artist.

Being an artist resembled an exotic disease — a dis-ease of the soul — and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t one of its victim.

“So, what’s your major this morning?” my folks teased me during our phone calls. I was prone to changing my mind, and the flexibility of my American education confused the hell out of them.

“Well, at least, you’re getting an education,” my best friend comforted me. She always comforted me. And it seemed to bother her the least — my proneness to change my mind, because I felt I could be so many things.

Come to think of it: It should have been easier, in my youth. During our college years, that’s exactly what we were meant to do: To seek. To learn. To experiment. To be — so many things!

But somehow, my contemporaries seemed to be more certain about their paths. They would be teachers or administrators. The more city-savvy types were going into investment banking in New York. And I’ve even known one biologist and a chick who went to work for Fox News. But mostly, they would be teachers.

“How can they be so sure?” I wondered.

Because I wasn’t sure. I could foresee the pleasure in having a day job with which I could identify myself for a couple of years; but the romance of its routine would expire as soon as some bureaucrat’s ego would begin dictating procedures to me, on a daily basis. Some of them didn’t like my language, or my dress code. They handed me time sheets and forms, along with the lists of appropriate jewelry. Some wanted me to tame my hair. Others preferred I didn’t call my colleagues “Loves”.

So, I would leave. I would always leave, but with enough notice and plenty of disappointment noticeable on my employers’ faces:

“It’s just that you had so much potential!” they would say.

“Then, why did you break my balls about my headscarves?” I would think in response. Still, I would leave with grace (even if I was leaving over burning bridges).

After college, I would be the only one in my class to leave for an art school.

Everyone had an opinion. Everyone but me. I still felt I could be so many things, but I really wanted to be — just one!

Some seemed to be quite disappointed in my decision to stick to the arts.

“What are you gonna do — with an art degree? You could be so many things, instead!”

And I wasn’t sure. I still wasn’t sure.

“And how can everybody else — be so sure?!” I wondered.

After the first semester in my MFA program, the uncertainty about my profession would remain. However, the overall vision of my life was becoming clearer: I would be an artist. I WAS an artist. And it was starting to be enough — to be that one thing.

And so, there I was: Willing to risk my life’s stability — the stability about which my contemporaries seemed to be so sure — for the sake of seeking daily inspiration. I would take on projects that would fuel my gratitude and curiosity. I would begin spending my nights in companies of others who shared my exotic disease — the dis-ease of the soul; and I would attend their shows and poetry readings, and loom in front of their paintings in tiny New York galleries. And none of us were still certain about our destinations; and yes, we were still filled with angst. But we did share the same vision: Our moments of happiness were simultaneous to the moments of creation — the moments of dis-ease.

Throughout the years, some of my contemporaries have disappeared into their professions: They turned out to be successful administrators and great teachers. Wonderful teachers, as a matter of fact! I would watch them moving with seeming certainty through their honorable daily routines.

“Still: How can you be so sure?” I would interview a few of them, years later.

I had succumbed to my disease fully by then, and I would learn to maneuver the demands of my survival jobs. I had surrendered.

“Are you kidding?! We aren’t sure at all!” some would answer, honestly.

And for the first time, in their tired and good, decent and honorable faces, I would notice a slight glimmer of doubt.

“Oh!” I would wonder. “So, no one really knows, for sure!”

Strangely, I would find no comfort in their doubtfulness.

But I would find great ease in knowing that I myself had fully surrendered to my disease: The dis-ease of my soul — of an artist.

“You think? You forgive because if you don’t — you are the only one you harm. Right?”

I put the book of Mexican recipes face down onto my chest. Think about. I can’t be flippant when speaking of forgiveness:

“Something like that.”

That still sounded flippant. I amend:

“I forgive because otherwise it’s too heavy. It becomes spite, or even hatred.”

I actually think I am allergic to both. This last time around, I wore a rash on my chin until it stopped mattering, I guess.

I continue:

“And I forgive because I am still looking for new stories. When there is no forgiveness, I just keep replaying the old one too much. Until I get sick of it. Until it stops mattering, I guess.”

Until I get sick of it. Is that what happens with me, eventually: I dig for reasons, I cross-examine for long enough to get sick of the whole story? Because most of the time, the reasons don’t become apparent. Not completely. There are glimpses, of course; and most of them are rooted in some sort of pleasure — or satisfaction at least — on the part of the other.

The people who wrong us seek something that they think they deserve. They deserve us: our goodness, our sex, our beauty.

And some would call that love.

“What would you call it?” he asks me. He is lying on his side, facing the wall, away from me. The wall is baby blue.

“I dunno,” I say, pick up the book with the Mexican recipes and start flipping through it again: I am done figuring it out! “I dunno! But I definitely don’t call it ‘love’!”

The pictures in the book are delicious. Delectable. I secretly daydream of my future bakery: It would be so good for my soul!

“Love ought to be selfless,” I resume. I guess I am not done figuring it out. “I love for the sake — for the benefit — of the other person, as much as I do for my own.”

“That’s not true!” he says and finally rolls over onto his back to look at me. “I’ve seen you love, love. You often love — despite yourself.”

I want to laugh but feel slightly defensive: “Well. That’s just what I do!”

I get a mighty hold of the book jacket and start skipping the section on meats: I don’t want to know!

He is waiting for the rustle of the flipping pages to stop. “That’s what you do alright. But that’s not good either. You can’t keep sacrificing yourself like that.”

I still want to laugh.

“At least, at the end, I needn’t be forgiven,” I say.

I’ve found some great comfort in that, before. Even pride. Because when I leave, I don’t take much with me. I don’t take away a former love’s dignity. I don’t destroy the self-esteem. And I only carry away the things that have always belonged to me.

So, no: I don’t take much with me. And I don’t take away much either. But the weight of trying to forgive — is quite heavy, and I choose to lug it with me for a while. Until it stops mattering, I guess.

I dig. I cross-examine. I recycle. I search for the reasons until I realize that the reasons may never become fully apparent. There are glimpses, of course. But the consolation they offer aren’t strong enough of a painkiller. So, I continue to dig, thinking that if only I find all the reasons — it will stop hurting completely.

“But how much of yourself do you leave behind?” He is now staring at the ceiling. It’s white.

I stop flipping the pages, put down the book face down onto my chest and start staring at his spot as well. (Are those fingerprints on the ceiling?)

I may leave. I may take the things that have always belonged to me. But when I keep the connection — just so that I can continue cross-examining, digging — I linger. And in lingering, I leave parts of me behind.

How do we forgive the people who have wronged us?

I am afraid that my previous “how” — is just a theory, and with time I’ve learned that it doesn’t really work. I never find the complete reasons: I only find reaffirmations of the others’ previous choice to wrong me. The original choice to deserve: my goodness, my sex, my beauty. My generosity. My love.

And then, there is this forgiveness:

“Time,” he says. “You give it time.” He is still staring at the ceiling.

“Kinda like putting it to rest? long before it’s ready?” I am studying his spot: Fingerprints.

If I put it to rest, the story won’t stop mattering. Instead, it will remain as a tale of Just Because. And I have to have enough patience — enough self-love — to leave it at that.

Because there are glimpses of reasons, of course; but not even the most powerful empathy can make me understand these reasons completely. So, I should just let them be theoretical. Otherwise, it’s too heavy. And I only harm myself.

And after enough time, the reasons stop mattering completely.

I let it be — I let them be — in time and silence.

And I let myself be light and kind, as someone who needn’t be forgiven.

Yep. This is the type of a subject my lover had to suffer through, during my version of a pillow talk, this morning.

Because I’m that type of a girl: Intense.

And once — but once! — in my life, I’ve entertained getting a tattoo; and the only line that I’ve been able to come up with, to permanently wear on my body is:

“I don’t cut corners.”

(What? I would’ve translated it into Russian, for the sake of some interesting variety. But that’s the gist of it: I don’t cut corners.)

I can’t imagine wearing hearts or flowers, or birds, or bloody butterflies on my ass. Oh sure, they look pretty on other girls — other birds. I’ve seen that before. But I don’t think anyone would take such a tattoo seriously — on my wings.

Because I am that type of a bird: Intense.

So, what is a lover to do with a line like that, in the presence of his morning hard-on? Answer it — with all honesty. I won’t settle for less.

He doesn’t have to be earnest about the whole thing: We can still laugh our heads off. (And I am always the first to crack jokes — on the subject of me.) But truth — is the only way to roll with me (the only way to fly), especially when that rolling happens in between the sheets.

And so he did, god bless him: My darling man. In the presence of his morning hard-on, he obeyed my unpredictable interrogation on the subject of birds:

“Of course, they do,” he said. “Birds get caught in storms all the time.”

“Hmm,” I considered. “‘Cause I’d think they would know how to sit this one out.”

My lover looked up at me, from his pillow. I think he was starting to catch on: He certainly had one intense bird on his hands — and in between his sheets.

“Well. Migratory birds must fly through storms all the time, I imagine,” he said.

Gotta give it to the man — my darling man: He was taking this whole thing quite seriously.

By now, I’ve learned a thing or two about great migrations. I understand the reckless courage it takes to cross the Ocean in pursuit of safer home ground or better statistics for survival; the open-mindedness that it takes to travel long distances, and the gratitude with which one must be perpetually fueled, in order to persevere through storms. With migratory birds, of course, it’s a matter of their nature. Their courage must come genetically preprogramed.

My lover was catching on:

“You do have a tremendous talent for getting tangled up in storms,” he joked.

In between the sheets, the air got lighter: We were about to start laughing our heads off — on the subject of me — to lift off and start flying. So, he began tickling my wings.

But still, my darling man was right: In my avian life, I’ve found myself tangled up in a number of storms; and there have been times when I’ve flown into them voluntarily.

Because that’s the type of a bird I am: I don’t cut corners.

Sometimes, chaos is the only way to learn. Sometimes, chaos — is the fastest way to the other side.

I’ve watched other birds get in tune with their nature: To listen up and get the fuck out of the way of a storm that they were unlikely to survive. “To sit this one out.” But those birds must not migrate much. They lead safer lives, lovelier and simpler ones, closer to the ground. Because in their avian lives, they haven’t lived through a drastic change of a climate, a life-changing current of air.

And sure, those lives look pretty on other birds. I’ve seen that before. But I don’t think I could could take such a life seriously — on my wings.

For I am not that type of a bird.

There have been plenty of loves, in my avian life, how ever transitory or fleeting; and they have carried me through a number of great migrations. Quite a few of them were stormy, life-changing; and I had flown into them, voluntarily.

Because sometimes, chaos — is the fastest way to the other side.

And I just: Don’t. Cut. Corners.

Perhaps, the only destination in my avian life — has been love itself. And it must be the only meaning behind my great migration.

They wait for me at the agreed-upon intersections in San Francisco, at New York delis, or at coffee shops — when in LA-LA. Some hear me speeding by, in search of parking, while simultaneously texting them: “b there in a min.” They watch me march into a joint, with my hair pulled back. (Unless traveling long distances up the coast, with all the windows rolled down, I keep that mane tamed at all costs.) I walk into my rendezvous, smiling at the clerks and saying hello to strangers; then, I scan the room for my beloveds.

I see them and immediately move in for a hug:

“It’s been so long. So happy to see you. Ah.”

I wrap myself with their bodies: I am not big on personal spaces between beloveds.

And when that’s all done, I start dumping my loads onto the nearby chairs, peeling off my purses and sweaters. I’m the type of a broad who carries a first-aid kit at the bottom of her endless bag. A nail file. A pair of scissors. A tampon (always!). A dozen hairpins. And a sewing kit: Never know when you may need one. And you bet your sweet ass, I have a notebook somewhere in there, as well. I just have to look for it.

“Well, maybe I left it in the car.”

I don’t even own one of those dainty purses I see other girls carry on their forearms into clubs. Those things always make me wonder about the gap between the purpose they’re meant to represent and their actual functionality. It’s a metaphor gone awry. A promise meant to be disappointing.

But then again, the lesser the load — the lighter the female, right?

Perhaps. But I doubt it.

In my defense, with time — with age — I’ve gotten significantly lighter, it seems. It wasn’t a determined decision to drop the endless self-flagellation ceremonies of my 20s. Instead, they just sort of slipped out of my daily routines; giving room to more decisiveness or to very tired surrender. Having realized I’m merely an impossible debater to defeat, I stay out of arguments — with myself.

And so, I’ve gotten significantly lighter. And so have my baggages.

I flop into the chair, across from the face I have now loved for ages, and I let down my mane:

“Ah. Can I get you something to drink?”

It’s a habit that just won’t go away:

I examine the needs of my beloveds before I check up on my own.

But they’re fine. My people — are always fine. They are resilient. Strong and competent, never helpless. And even if they’re not fine — that’s fine too; because if ever they ask me for help, I never go telling on them. And neither do I ever mention it again.

“Seriously. Don’t mention it. My honor!” I say, as if threatening.

Love comes with no ties attached.

We begin to talk: A quick game of catching up with the lapsed time. A survival of our separations. If it were up to me, I would have all of my beloveds live with me in a commune: Some Victorian house balancing on a cliff above the ocean, with a menu of attics and basements, and hiding places for their selection. And at night, we would gather at a giant wooden table in the middle of an orchard, and we would search our oversized bags — and baggages — for nighttime stories and lovely fairytales about surrender.

But my people — are vagabonds and gypsies; and they go off to conquer their dreams, and to defeat their fears, on the way.

After enough is said to make me want to have a drink or to toast, I finally get up from the chair and start making my way to the counter, smiling at the clerk, again. In a couple of steps though, I look back, flip my mane and say:

“Sure you don’t want anything?”

Equipped with replenishing elixirs and an item in place of bread that we can break together, I come back to the table, rummage through my purse for a napkin and jumpstart the next round of storytelling. And I guarantee, most of the time, these are stories of broken loves and departed lovers.

But my people are fine, of course. They are resilient. Carefully, they process their losses; and they start dreaming of the next adventure. The next love. The next story.

“I’ll drink to that,” I say and tip my mane back while chugging down my drink.

When it’s my turn, however, my stories don’t come out with an obvious ending. Instead, they offer endless lessons and questions. For years, for decades, I have been known to mourn my lovers. I flip each story on its head; and as if yet another endless bag of mine, I rummage through it for details and conclusions.

And that’s when my comrades try to put an end to it:

“Don’t dwell on the past,” they say, and they go to the counter for a refill.

I don’t really know what that means:

None of my stories are ever put to rest. And neither are my loves.

Instead, they bounce around, at the bottom of my endless baggage, waiting to be pulled out the next time I am in the midst of rummaging for words. Which must be why I retell each tale so many times, committing it to my own memory and to the memory of my beloveds.

So, dwelling on the past: I don’t really mind that, as long as I don’t dwell in it. And in my defense, I have gotten lighter, with time, and with age. And so have my baggages.